The adventures of Gary and Carolyn living aboard and continuously cruising the uk canals and rivers on narrowboat Inca

Monday, 13 June 2016

Windsor

After leaving Staines it was up to Romney lock. With a rise of 6 feet and seven inches it takes a good throw to get our ropes over the bollards. Due to the great flow when the lock is filling we have to be tied off at the Bow and Stern.

Well done Sharon !! We have all had problems lassoing the bollards when entering locks. Just look how happy Sharon is after getting the rope over the bollard first time.

The Thames locks have to be some of the best kept locks anywhere and the keepers work really hard to maintain them. It seems that Canal and River Trust are in talks with The Environment agency to take over the running of The Thames locks…If that happens I can’t see the locks looking this good for very long….

Arriving at Windsor and how lucky are we to pick up this great mooring with Windsor castle in the background. Within seconds of pulling in the mooring warden was there and asking for our £8 a night mooring fee. We had been warned that he was a bit of a jobs worth by other boaters. It was interesting watching him while we were at Windsor, If a boat turned up or he could hear a mooring pin being driven in he was off like a shot to get his money.

Another unusual passenger craft on the Thames is this 26 seat Amphibious Vehicle, which is a purpose built Vehicle manufactured in 2010.

How about this for a good looking boat .Built in 1905, STREATLEY is a river passenger vessel with a steel hull and the capacity for 182 passengers. She was built by Salter Brothers, Oxford and operated on the Upper Thames, upstream as far as Oxford and downstream as far as Staines. After being laid up, she was sold in 1995/96 and continued to run charter trips. Her engine is a W H Dorman internal, combustion, 53kw. 1995 saw STREATLEY return to the river once again fitted with her original steam engine and coal fired boiler. She was stripped to a bare hull, repaired where necessary and then rebuilt with new saloon and returned to her old livery of black and green. She operated on the whole length of the Thames making numerous forays into the tidal river where she was licensed to Greenwich. In the autumn of 2010, she was moved to Windsor for restoration with an aim to have her back chartering as soon as possible.Extensive re-plating at the stern was carried out at Sunbury dry dock, involving the replacement of the majority of the compound curved plates around the stern tube and counter stern. The rudder was similarly rebuilt with new stock and bearings. Traditional riveting techniques were applied at all times, reflecting original construction methods. The entire internals of the hull were needle gunned and taken back to bare metal before receiving four coats of two-pack epoxy to ensure longevity. She can be chartered for a Thames cruise, but it will set you back £1700.

After a good days cruise with Sharon and Rich on Nb Oakapple it’s chill out time . The red wine is opened and the citronella candles are lit to stop those annoying little midges from biting.